Methodology: The national average credit card APR is comprised of 100 of the most popular credit cards in the country, including cards from dozens of leading U.S. issuers and representing every card category listed above. Introductory, or teaser, rates are not included in the calculation.

The national average annual percentage rate (APR) on new
card offers remained at 14.98 percent Wednesday, after rising slightly the
previous week.

None of the card offers that CreditCards.com tracks made changes of any sort this week. That includes changes to promotional balance transfers and
introductory APRs.

Stillness on credit card landscape is nothing new in 2012 -- in fact, it's become the new norm. In the past eight months, average APRs have remained unchanged
22 weeks out of 35.

When average rates have moved this year,
the changes were tiny. For example, the national average on new card offers hasn't dropped below
14.9 percent since the end of February, according to CreditCards.com data, and it
has remained just shy of 15 percent for the past six weeks.

Card issuers slash mail offers
The lull in activity isn't confined to credit card offer terms.
Card issuers are also continuing to pull back on the number of card offers they
mail to consumers, according to research from Mintel Comperemedia.

Credit card mailings dropped for the second month in a row
in July, according to the financial services firm Credit Suisse, citing Mintel
Comperemedia research, falling 12 percent from the previous month.

Looking back a year, the dropoff in card offers is even more dramatic, with the volume of credit card offers sent to
consumers is now down by nearly half. According
to data compiled by Credit Suisse, the total number of credit card offers
mailed to consumers fell by a whopping 48 percent between July 2011 and July
2012, slumping levels not seen since 2010.

Generally, the number of credit card offers mailed to
consumers is considered to be an important indicator of how hungry issuers are
to capture new customers. However, researchers at Credit Suisse say that
competition between issuers remains tight.

"We believe that the operating environment faced by credit
card issuers remains very competitive, particularly at the higher spending end
of the spectrum," wrote analysts Moshe Orenbuch and Meredith Roscoe in
a research note released last week.

After declining sharply in 2009, mail volume increased
significantly in 2011, hitting just over 450 million offers per month at its peak in July
2011. But then issuers began to pull back significantly in November 2011, reducing
the number of offers they sent in the mail to just
over 300 million. Credit card mailings have yet to recover since then,
hovering between 200 million and 300 million offers throughout 2012.

As a result, research analysts have curbed their expectations
for future growth. Researchers at Credit Suisse, for example, now believe that
the total number of credit card offers sent in 2012 will be 32 percent below
the number of offers issuers sent the year before.

In an interview earlier this month, Andrew Davidson, senior vice president of Mintel Comperemedia, said that issuers are remaining cautious about the volume of card offers they send due to an uncertain economic recovery. However, they are spending significant resources on other ways to capture new customers, such as online advertising and social media, he says.

Once the economic recovery picks up steam, Davidson expects that consumers will once more see a larger number of credit card offers popping up in their mailboxes.

Published: August 29, 2012

Join the discussion

We encourage an active and insightful conversation among our users. Please help us keep our community civil and respectful. For your safety, do not disclose confidential or personal information such as bank account numbers or social security numbers. Anything you post may be disclosed, published, transmitted or reused.

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.

The editorial content on CreditCards.com is not sponsored by any bank or credit card issuer. The journalists in the editorial department are separate from the company's business operations. The comments posted below are not provided, reviewed or approved by any company mentioned in our editorial content. Additionally, any companies mentioned in the content do not assume responsibility to ensure that all posts and/or questions are answered.

CreditCards.com's Newsletter

Did you like this story? Then sign up for CreditCards.com’s weekly e-newsletter for the latest news, advice, articles and tips. It's FREE. Once a week you will receive the top credit card industry news in your inbox. Sign up now!